Improvement in apparatus for defecating sugar



R. A. STEWART.

Clarifying and Defcating Cane Juice.

No. 24,961. V Patented Aug.2,1859. V

5 b A w? Jlieaf: Inmrniori UNIT D STATES PATENT Orricie.

RICHARD A. STEVART, OF ST. BERNARD PARISH, LOUISIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR DEFECATING SUGAR.

Specification forming part. of Letters Patent No. 24,96 1, dated August2, 1959.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD A. STEWART, of St. Bernard parish, State ofLouisiana, have made new and useful Improvements in Apparatus forDefecating, Clarifying, and Bleaching Saceharine Liquids-such as Cane-Juice, Sit-up, &c.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a fulland clear description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawingmakingapart thereof. My process for defecatiug andclarifying cane'juice and other liquid or. semi -liquid forms ofsaccharine matter consists in disseminating throughout the samesulphurous gas. For this I have already taken'out Letters Patent of theUnited States, hearing date January 11,1859, and the apparatus forcarrying out this process, which I have devised and found effective, Inow desire to secure by Letters Patent, in so far as the same is new anduseful. My improvements are especially ap plicable in the manufacture ofsugar.

In the accompanying drawing, A represents a horizontal cylindricalvessel or retort nearly closed, within along the bottom of which commonbrimstone is burned with a small supply of air, so that the product ofcombustion may be sulphurous gas instead of sulphuric acid, and thecombustion may be slow and continuous.

V and V are vessels containing water.

0 is a vacuum-cylinder or condenser.

p is a pipe to conduct the sulphurous gas from the retort A to thewater-vessel o.

q is a pipe to conduct said gas from o to o.

0' is a pipe to conduct said gas from the vessel o to thevacuum-cylinder.

b I) represent the steam-boilers of the sugarhouse.

S is the pipe communicating between the boilers and the vacuum-cylinder.

J is the vessel containing the saccharine matter to be defecated oroperated upon.

t is the pipe leading from the vacuum-cylinder to the perforated tube orcoil in the bottom of the receiver J. This coil is represented at K K,850.

M, N, andZ represent plugs in the pipes, which are capable of beingturned to close the communication through the pipes or open them atpleasure. g

1) represents a door in the end of the retort;

through which the hrimstone may be fed, and (Z an opening through thedoor,through which the air may be slowly admitted to preserve slow andimperfect combustion continuously.

The retort A is for making the-gas, and the other parts represented andreferred to are for transferring the gas to the receiver containing thesaccharine matter, and purifying it to a great extent on its way, andfreeing it from the sulphuric acid which may he accidentally formed inthe retort.

The operation is substantially as follows, viz: A thin charge of brokenor pulverized brimstone is placed along the bottom of the retort, whichshould be made or lined wholly or partially of some substance which theburning sulphur will not seriously injure or rapidly destroy, and thesulphur or brimstone is ignited at the end nearest the door or oppositeto the pipe 1). The door should then be closed and only the smallopening d left for the ad mission of air. The sulphurous gas will thusbe produced. hen the receiver J is charged with the cane-juice, the plugN being closed,

the plugs M and I should be opened,when the steam will rush from theboiler to the vacuumcylinder, and as the steam-pipe S enters thevacuum-cylinder near the bottom, and the dis charge-pipe t is at thetop, the air will be speedily discharged from the vacuum-cylinder, whichwill soon become filled with steam. When the vacuum-cylinder is filledwith steam as nearly as can be judged, the plug M should be closed, andas soon as the bubbling substantially ceases in the receiver J, the plugI should be turned. As the vacuum-cylinder is then entirely closed, andthe steam therein rapidly condenses, a vacuum, more or less perfect,will take place therein; and to make this vacuum more perfect and morepromptly, jets of cold water may be injected into the cylinder by any ofthe known and convenient means used for producing condensation. \Vhenthe vacuum is well commenced, the plug a should be opened, on and Zcontinuing closed, when the gas from the retort A will rush through thepipes p, the vessel 1), the vessel 1:, and the pipe r, to fill thevacuum of the cylinder (1. These pipes and vessels should all beair-tight. The pipes which educt the gas from the vessels 1: 1; shouldenter them above the water-line, and those which conduct the gas intothem should also be above the water, except that the lower end of one orboth may so dip as to discharge the gas a very little below the surfaceof the water. As the gas will not rush from the retorts to thevacuum-cylinder with great force, it is well that its progress should beimpeded as little as may be by the tubes and water-vessels. In passingover and through the water the sulphurous gas'will be purified. Othersubstances which are known to absorb sulphuric acid readily might beplaced in the water-vessels, and one water-vessel might be used insteadof two or more. \Vhen the vacuum-cylinder is supplied with sulphurousgas, the plug it should be closed and the plug t and m opened. The gasnot being able to pass into the receiver by its own force, and sometimesbeing insufficient to prevent the liquid saccharine matter from passinginto the vacuum-cylinder, the steam from the boilers is admitted toforce the sulphurous gas forward through the pipe t, and through theperforations in its coil at the bottom of the receiver, and thence itwill rise, disseminating itself through the saccharine to the surface.

The receiver J may be entirely open at top, and may be placed outsideofthe sugar-house; or it may be within, and obvious means taken to conductthe gas arising from it out of the way.

The operation described'inay be repeated once or more on the same chargein the receiver. I have generally found one repetitiou sufficient.

The size of the apparatus may be very much varied, and the quantity ofthe gas sent through the charge will of course vary in each operation,according to the size of the apparatus. The retorts may be six to tenfeet long, and the other dimensions of the apparatus may be in about theproportions thereto indicated in drawings; but these proportions are notabsolutely essential, as is very obvious, but may be very much variedwhile the same principle is preserved, and good results will stillfollow. The small air-opening d ought to have an adjustable damper toregulate the admission of air, the object being to continue thecombustion and yet produce as little sulphuric acid as possible. At eachoperation, of course, water of condensation will be deposited in thevacuum-cylinder. It is necessary, therefore, that a cock should beprovided for it at its bottom, by which this water may be drawn off.This cock is representedat f.

In the manufacture of sugar I prefer so to arrange my apparatus that Ican operate directly upon the juice before it enters the boilers; but itobviously may be applied with similar effect at more advanced stages ofthe operation. It is also obvious that the coil form is not necessaryfor the reception and distribution of the gas in the bottom of thereceiver; but perforated vessels of various forms would answer thepurpose. The perforations, however, should be so small that all ornearly all of them will be required to allow the gas to pass out intothe liquid, as it is forced forward by the steam. I will further remarkthat a piston may be used in the vacuum-cylinder to carry out itsobjects in modes which will readily suggest themselves to every engineer.

Having fully described my apparatus for defecating, clarifying, andbleaching saccharine liquid and explained the mode of operat ing thesame, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination of the retort, the vacuumcylinder and receiver,substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth, andthese I also claim in combination with the steam-boiler, substantiallyoperating as described, and for the purpose set forth.

R. A. S'lElVART.

In presence of i T. VAMOURT, B. G. BURNI'r.

